


Uncle Desmond

by lunaseemoony



Category: Mansfield Park (2007), Nativity 2: Danger in the Manger! (2012), Teninch - Fandom
Genre: Babies, F/M, Fluff, Kids
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-28
Updated: 2017-03-28
Packaged: 2018-10-12 05:40:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,432
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10483308
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lunaseemoony/pseuds/lunaseemoony
Summary: When Donald becomes a father, the one most excited about it is his classroom assistant Mr. Poppy, whose particular brand of exuberance gets ahead of him (as usual).





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [KTRose](https://archiveofourown.org/users/KTRose/gifts).



> Just some silly, tooth-rotting fluff for KTRose ^_^ A small part of this is also inspired by a scene from The Office

“Pleeeeeeease?”

“No.”

“Pleeeeeeease?”

“No.”

It was probably just Donald’s imagination but Mr. Poppy got exponentially louder each time. “Pleeeeeeease?”

“I _said NO_ , Mr. Poppy! Now we need to get back to our lessons. After your fiasco this morning with the class rabbits we need to play catch up. If you don’t mind - ”

True to form, Mr. Poppy folded his arms and plopped himself right on Donald’s desk, producing a fit of giggles around the classroom. “You said I’m the uncle. You promised, Mr. Peterson! You did!”

Donald pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. “You’re right. I did. But the classroom is no place for a newborn. You can see the baby later.” 

“But you can’t keep the baby from their family! Right Pixie? Tell Mr. Peterson that I’m right. Don’t you want to meet the baby?”

“Don’t use Pixie against me! Pixie, ignore Mr. Poppy.”

The doe-eyed, curly-haired little six-year-old in the front row pursed the smile from her mouth as her eyes darted between the two teachers for a pause. She answered in her hushed and squeaky little voice. “Mr. Peterson, Mr. Poppy says that he’s right.” 

Donald didn’t have nearly enough sleep nor caffeine in his system to deal with any more of Mr. Poppy’s antics, which - if history was anything to go on - would continue until he got what he wanted. Donald needed to arm himself. He felt a pang of guilt for drinking so much coffee when Fanny couldn’t but she’d understand, she’d met Mr. Poppy. She was always so polite and she genuinely adored Mr. Poppy but she did admit once that he could be a bit... exasperating. 

“I’m going to the teacher’s lounge to grab a coffee. Mr. Poppy, please practice spelling with them until I return. No monkey business!” Donald pointed at Mr. Poppy, staring him down and waggling his finger as he left the room. 

There was a roar of cackling shortly after the door closed so Donald hurried. Obviously they’d done _something_  because the entire room was silent when he returned, their hands behind their backs and all looking out the window, feigning innocence. It was only a matter of working out precisely what they’d done. He suspected he was just looking into things too much until there was a knock on the door a half hour later.

He didn’t even look at the door. “Mr. Poppy, what have you done?” 

The class all shrugged along with him. “Nothing!” 

Mr. Poppy acted quickly. “Tommy go let her in!” 

Donald wrung his face in his hands and spoke through them. “You didn’t.” 

“I _did_! You’ll thank me for this later!”

“I promise you I won’t.”

The voice of an angel broke through their bickering. “Well hello there, what’s your name?” 

“Tommy,” the boy murmured. 

“May I come in Tommy?” 

He peeled back the door for her, she picked up the car seat, and stepped inside. 

Donald and Fanny were coasting on barely two hours of sleep and yet she was still very much radiance personified. Her golden ringlets had since fallen out of the morning’s loose plait, looking like they’d been kissed by the wind a little. If she was still as exhausted as Donald felt, the evidence was obscured by her sweet, coy smile and peachy cheeks. Donald had at least a hundred pictures of that smile, one of which stood prominently on his desk. Every one was a reminder of why he’d married her. Their little bundle of joy was only a few weeks old but Fanny was already, at least in his mind, the perfect mum. 

It was too late to reprimand Mr. Poppy now, she was already here. Donald couldn’t help himself. He skidded down a row and rushed up to Fanny to relieve her of the heavy car seat and peck her forehead. The first words out of his mouth every time he saw her were always love, and this time was no exception. Despite the children’s giggling over it, it was well worth it for her sheepish grin growing tenfold. 

“I’m so sorry Donald, I know you didn’t want this.” Her gaze traveled across the room, meeting two dozen eager faces along the way. “They just asked so sweetly I couldn’t say no to them.”

“HIIIII MRS. PETERSON!” 

Fanny looked at Mr. Poppy and brought a finger to her lips but it was too late, the baby already started squalling. Just what Donald had wanted to avoid. 

“Hello Desmond,” Fanny sighed, the screaming not dampening her smile in the slightest.  

“I’m so sorry Mrs. Peterson, here I’ll fix it!” 

Pixie and half the class were covering their ears. “I changed my mind, Mr. Peterson. I don’t want to meet the baby anymore.”

“Mr. Poppy that won’t be necessary,” Donald said, setting the car seat down on his desk. All the children’s heads popped up like meerkats to take a peak as he moved down the classroom. He’d started to take the baby out of the car seat when Mr. Poppy shoved him aside. 

“I can fix this, I promise!” 

“No, Mr. Poppy don’t, please.” 

But the moment he picked up the baby, the screaming stopped. “Hello little fella, I’m your uncle Desmond. But you can call me Mr. Poppy,” he said, barely above a whisper, much to Donald’s surprise. When he turned around his grin touched both corners of his goofy bright face. “Look Mr. Peterson I did it!” 

Donald and Fanny exchanged confused looks but she just shrugged. “You must be a natural,” Fanny encouraged him. 

“Should we name the baby after me? What d’you think? Desmond Peterson?”

Fanny covered her mouth for a moment and started giggling. She leaned into Donald and rested her head on his shoulder, still giggling as their baby whimpered and cooed to a silence. 

Donald cleared his throat. “Mr. Poppy, the baby’s a girl.” 

Mr. Poppy sat down in a chair by the desk as a few students slowly slid out of their chairs to approach the now quiet baby, cooing and smiling at her. “So? Could still work. Desdemona! Like after my bus!”

Fanny peered up at Donald, still giggling. “Rather like that name. Desdemona.” 

“Don’t encourage him. We’re not naming our daughter after a bus. She’s already got a name anyway.” 

“What is it?”

Fanny and Donald answered in unison. “Victoria.” 

Mr. Poppy gasped and beamed. “Oh well isn’t that perfect, gang? A queen’s name.” He stood up and faced the class. “Look Victoria. This is your family right here. All of us, aren’t we?” 

Maybe they’d been working together too long (six months can go by _very slowly_ ), but Donald saw precisely where Mr. Poppy’s train of thought was going following those words. “Mr. Poppy, don’t.”

Next thing Donald knew, his newborn daughter was being raised up into the air to the tune of The Lion King and he was feeling - 

“MR. PETERSON! MR. PETERSON WAKE UP!” 

Donald bolted up and hissed as he knocked heads with Mr. Poppy. He found himself in a white room and immediately groaned. 

“You fainted! Mrs. Peterson was worried so I carried you to the nurse. Just a bit of a shock, she said. You should be right as rain!”

“Wait. Where are the children? Where’s Fanny? Where’s the baby?” Donald rattled off. 

Mr. Poppy helped him up and they started walking (well, Donald was _rushing_ ) down the hall back to the classroom. “They’re with Mrs. Peterson, no worries!” 

“You left my wife alone with a baby and 24 children?”

“Yeah!” 

At this, Donald began running, but froze in his tracks dumbfounded when he opened the classroom door. Fanny was sitting on the carpet calmly rocking the baby with the children in front of her singing and teaching them a lullaby. Quite possibly the most perfect sight Donald had ever laid eyes on, second to Fanny on their wedding day of course. And the first time he saw his baby girl. And the first time he met Fanny. And when she cried when he proposed. Okay fine, so it was on par with several choice moments. But it was the first truly, much needed peaceful moment in a few long days. 

“See, I told you, no worries at all.” Mr. Poppy grinned and bumped shoulders with him. “Wow. Mrs. Peterson’s gonna be a perfect mum, don’t you think?” 

“She already is.” 

“Oh! Almost forgot! Good news! Mrs. Peterson said I could babysit next month. Isn’t that great? Victoria and her uncle Desmond are gonna have loads of fun!” 

Thud. 

“Mr. Peterson? Mr. Peterson? Well, time to visit the nurse again.”


End file.
